Beginner-Advanced Support Guide [Patch 2.06]

This guide will show you how to play one of the most important and fun classes of the game.

Introduction

Every support champion plays differently, however there are some rules that apply to all of them. If you are new to the class and want to avoid doing the same mistakes other beginners do, this guide is for you.

Step 1. Start with Jenos, Seris or Grover

There are several support champions to chose from but if you're new, I'd recommend you to try Seris, Jenos and Grover first. You can certainly go for, say, Mal'damba, but you might find it easier to start with one of the following three:

Seris

Seris is a strong champion with one of the most powerful healing abilities in the game. She can transition into the world of shadows to temporarily become immune to damage and her ultimate is extremely useful, and can be devastating when properly used.

Jenos

Jenos is a very fast and agile support who can use Stellar Wind to quickly escape any danger and Void Grip to assist his teammates and himself. He can heal through walls and his Astral Mark can increase the damage of affected allies by 15%.

Grover

Grover is a versatile support who can heal the entire team at once if they are close enough. His passive healing aura makes him the only champion who can heal non-stop. His Crippling Throw and Vine allow him to quickly make distance with any source of danger and take the best positions on the map.

Step 2. Chosing the right loadout

All supports start with an awful stock loadout. I don't know why Hirez Evil Mojo is doing that but what I know is that you should never use the factory loadout.

Here are the loadouts I would suggest you to start with for the following four supports:

If you want to make your own loadouts

First of all, prioritize cards that reduce the cooldown of your main healing ability.

Secondly, max out cards that heal you when you heal your teammates.

Finally, try to get a card that will somehow increase your speed or reduce the cooldown of your F ability - anything that will help you to escape is a great help.

Oh and avoid anything that gives you life steal. Your damage output is not high enough for that.

Step 3. Best Items for a support

Usually, Chronos is your best friend. In 90% of the cases, you'll want to get Chronos 2 before anything else. Once you have that, I'd recommend you getting Nimble 2. Speed is more important than armor because it allows you to (a) get faster to your teammates who need healing and (b) escape from enemy fire.

After you've got Nimble, you can then get either Cauterize or some sort of defense.

Note: I am not a fan when supports go Cauterize but sometimes your team does not have enough Caut, so you have to buy it and spread it on enemies to prevent them from getting healed.

Exceptions

• Ying - You might want to get Morale Boost 3 instead of Chronos
  
• Mal'Damba - Deft Hands should go by hand by hand with Chronos
  
• Seris - You might usually want to avoid Chronos and start with either Morale Boost (if you have someone to combine your ultimate with) or Nimble.

Items to Avoid

• Life Rip - use cards that give you self-heal instead.
  
• Rejuvenate - the item does not amplify the effect of self-heal cards
  
• Veteran - for obvious reasons
  
• Master Riding - It's useless in 99.9% of the cases.

When to Pick Support?

First and foremost, you don't always get to play support. If someone picks support before you, you should chose a different class.

As a rule of thumb, teams with two or more supports always lose.

Now, if someone picked support before you, you can

• (a) ask them whether they are going heals or damage. Support champions such as Pip or Mal'Damba can sometimes be used as flankers. If they say that they go heals, you can then
  
• (b) ask them to pick someone else so you can go support.

Most people won't switch though, so you should always be ready to fill a different role.

Positioning

As a support, you have to get used that you will be targeted by the whole enemy team. Which means that you have to stick to your teammates at all time. Any good enemy flank will keep a constant eye on you and kill you as soon as they see you alone.

Most of your teammates will be on the point, however you don't always want to be with them there either.

• If the point is being targeted by enemy damagers and front lines, you better stay somewhere close and heal your teammates from the safety of cover.
  
  
• If you spot a flank coming for you, you have to reposition yourself close to your damager(s).
  
  
• If the point is being captured by your front line while the action is happening elsewhere, you usually want to stand close to your front line and heal your teammates when they get on your sight (unless you are Jenos, who can heal through walls)
  
  
• If your team got wiped and you are the last champion standing, you gotta retreat closer to spawn. Don't try to play John Wick as support.

Mobility is key

Camping the same spot for too long is usually a bad idea.

Luckily for you, flankers have their limitations too. They can't chase you indefinitely. They can't see you through walls (unless you are Lex's target).

You have to be in the shadows, healing your teammates from cover and changing your position as often as you can.

How to deal with flankers

1. Watch your back. Your damagers and front liners are usually too focused on what they're doing so they might miss the enemy flanker. As a support, you have more free time and can be more alert.
   
   
2. As soon as you see an enemy flanker getting close to you, try to (a) let your team know that you are being flanked and (b) get close to your damagers, since your damagers are the ones who can counter flankers the most efficiently.
   
   
3. As soon as you see your damagers engaging the flank, try to help them. Certain supports can stun or cripple enemy champions; save those abilities for said situations.
   
   
4. Don't waste your F ability; save it for when you have to escape from the flanker.

Who to Heal

As a support, you have to chose who to heal. Sadly, most supports can only focus a couple teammates, leaving the rest out.

Some people might call you a bad support for not healing them, however they have to understand that your healing capabilities are limited and you have to prioritize your targets.

Your first priority is your front line.

No matter what happens, your front line should be receiving the most heals.

The others are situational.

First Encounter

When your team is fighting on the point you have to be there and heal whoever is involved into that bloody mess. Your tanks should be the priority, though don't forget your damagers either.

Now, as soon as your team clears the point, your damagers and flank should push forward. Your role is to stay on the point and capture. If you have a long-range healer such as Furia, Seris or Jenos, you should keep healing your team from the point.

Jenos

As Jenos with the Luminary talent, sometimes you want to place your healing marks on your flanker first, if they are good that is. A good flanker with the +15% damage boost and passive healing can easily take half of the enemy team on their own.

Grover and Grohk

Both are close range healers, so your positioning determines who you can heal. This means that when playing as either, you have to stick close to your front line at all times.

When you're fighting the enemy flank

Prioritize the teammate who is helping you to fight the enemy flanker off. Just make sure to take cover first and then heal them, unless the enemy flanker is totally focused on your defender, in which case you can stay where you are and just spam those heals.

Common Mistakes

1. Rushing the point alone (unless it's a 3/3 Overtime and you have to stall at any cost).
   
2. Positioning yourself in front of the team, right under enemy fire.
   
3. Staying far from cover.
   
4. Not taking cover when you get hit.
   
5. Trying to outdamage an enemy damager or flank.
   
6. Trying to play like Chuck Norris.
   
7. Not healing your front line enough.
   
8. Healing your teammates who are under the effect of Cauterize or who are in the Dead Zone.

You know the basics, now what?

Most players want to get to competitive asap because they want that shiny platinum/diamond/master rank.

If you want to play competitively, it's essential for you to know how to be a good support, and to be able to play well at least three support champions. That being said, if Support is the only class you are good at, it means it's too early for you to go competitive.

You want to learn all the four classes and become proficient at at least a dozen different champions before you can be successful in Ranked.

Now, the steps I have mentioned here are pretty basic. They are pretty easy to learn and once you do that, you can check my 5 Tips to support Like a Diamond Player guide to learn some more advanced strategies.

Other guides by DaddyMouse:

5 Tips to flank Like a Diamond Player
5 Tips to support Like a Diamond Player
How to play Tyra (Video tutorial)

In Conclusion

[dziewucha]

dead game

[Water_Wolfy]

for me i like playing as seris woth her first loadout because im like a little battle medic being able to run around going for groups or tanks and healing once i get low from her Q ability and healing my teammates when they need it from her large range. I know its probably not the way to play it but its always fun :P

[Cummy]

How I can see to improve this is that you should
1. Never put the self heal card at full 3 would be better ( you shouldn't be taking enough damage for that to matter)
2.With grover you want to use deep roots instead of rampant blooming and fatalis 5 instead of perennial
3. Most of the time teammates aren't on the objective so you need to move around a good bit
4. Jenos isn't a good support to learn at the start because he doesn't need to expose himself which is a important part to learn as other all other supports need to peak
5. Keep line of sight to the point and where the action is if you are not being pressured
6. Also mention that you can stay in the enemy backline if it is safe(take into account the entire lap( mainly if there entire team decides to charge yours))
7. Corvus wasn't released when this guide was but he is a good support to learn as he can heal through walls and still needs to peak during point fights

[DaddyMouse]

@Patastrophic Glad you found them helpful ^^ As for late I am more focused on making videos. I have planned to make another interview with a GM/PPC/PPL player in the foreseeable future about team compositions, which will include tips on which damagers work the best on each map. I might do another one after that on damagers specifically if people will vote for that ^^

[Patastrophic]

"Frontline and support", I meant damage. Oof.

[Patastrophic]

Thanks for these guides. Have you thought about doing similar guides for frontline and support?

My favorite thing about your guides is that they're written in such a way that it doesn't matter what the last patch it, it makes sense and is helpful. Super appreciated.

[| h4 |]

Great guide!

[Goritude]

Awesome guide ! I have tested Grove's build and it really rocks. Could you please share some builds, for Viktor or Makoa for example ?

[DaddyMouse]

@wrac4242 Pip is amazing and greatly underrated. Main reason being that not a lot people know how to play him, imo. Pip needs his own guide though, he's so different from other supports.

[wrac4242]

what about pip? he can multi class